In the procurement and transplantation of organs such as kidneys, it is essential to properly preserve the organ, and it has been customary to subject the organ to lower temperatures and a perfusion with a suitable perfusate.
Several methods of kidney perfusion have been used. Folkert O. Belzer, B. Sterry Ashby and J. Englebert Dunphy in Ann. Surg, 172:394, 1970, described a system for perfusion of kidneys by hypothermic pulsatile perfusion utilizing a pulsatile pump, a membrane oxygenator, a heat exchanger and a refrigeration unit. The perfusate was supplied by the pump through the heat exchanger and the oxygenator to the organ.
In another system described by A. W. Moberg, E. A. Santiago, R. V. Mason, M. J. Mozes, R. A. Campos and J. S. Najarian, in The Lancet, Dec. 25, 1971, a smaller self-contained system was provided utilizing an organ cassette which included an organ chamber, circulating fluid, membrane oxygenator and heat exchanger.
In a third type of system described by G. Claes, I. Blohme and L. E. Gelin in a paper to be published in preceedings from EDTA meeting in Berlin, July 1971, a similar system was provided which included non-pulsatile perfusion, i.e., a pump that did not pulsate.
Among the objects of the present invention are to provide an improved perfusion system which is simpler, more compact and can be utilized portably or otherwise, which does not utilize pulsatile perfusion, and which incorporates an organ cassette that can be interchanged with other systems.